Reloading room humidity.

[Kevin1990]

So I haven't been down the my reloading room for awhile. I went down two days ago, and you could feel the moisture in the air. Got a humidity gauge and it was reading 68 percent. Over the last 24 hours it's gone from 68 to 55 percent.

I got a dehumidifier today and I've got it set at 50 percent.

Would that type of humidity for long periods of time do anything to primers or powder? I'm sure it was like that all last summer but I never checked it because I had surgery and never really went down there.

Thanks fellas

 

[Xstang77]

Realistically you'll probably be fine,
but it's to the point where it's not just the primers and powder, but also rust on your gear especially presses and dies
I've found they're usually the first to start collecting rust,I run a large dehumidifier all summer long here and aim for a humidity level of 40%

 

[WyleWD]

Realistically you'll probably be fine,
but it's to the point where it's not just the primers and powder, but also rust on your gear especially presses and dies
I've found they're usually the first to start collecting rust,I run a large dehumidifier all summer long here and aim for a humidity level of 40%

+1^^ 40%. WD

 

[SmokinJoe]

And if possible pipe the condensate outside or to a drain so it can run continuously. Emptying that bucket every day or two is a royal PIA, and if you aren't down there for several days at a time your unit will kick off when the container gets full and you won't be accomplishing what you want to.

 

[itchyTF]

When I moved here the basement smelled musty. It’s around 2,000 sq ft and was hesitant to get one of the Home Depot types. Did some research and ended up buying one of these - https://shop.aprilaire.com/collections/dehumidifier/products/aprilaire-e080-80-pint-dehumidifier
Put it in the middle of the space, got a condensate pump and Teed it into the HVAC’s condensate pump. After hooking everything up it ran constantly for days. Asked the company about it and they said EVERYTHING in the basement has to be brought down to whatever you set the humidity at. It ran 24/7 for 2 weeks! It’s set for 50%. I tried a lower setting but it ran too much. No more musty smell.

 

[Mark W]

At my last place the humidity in my non air conditioned basement loading room ran between 50% and 70% for part of the year. I always stored my primers and powder upstairs in a bedroom closet. I never had any issues with anything rusting, but I was loading a lot more back then, so things were being handled and wiped off more frequently.

Here at my new place the basement where I put my loading room finished and is air conditioned. The humidity still gets high down there, so I run a dehumidifier full time during the summer when humidity is higher in Ohio.

 

[rijndael]

When I called and talked to Hodgdon, the helpful guy I talked to indicated that temps were of more concern than humidity, from a longevity perspective.

The argument about load consistency is another one, we didn't go there.

 

[Kevin1990]

Interesting perspectives. I don't know what the humidity is in the winter but my wood burning stove is in my basement and it's dry as a bone. But I'm going to pipe the humidifier outside. It filled up in about an 8-10 hour period.


I'm thinking about putting all my primers in plastic bags and sucking the air out and closing them up. And leaving them in a bin with some dissocant packets. Anyone else store primers or powder differently?